Making U.S. high schools great is a tough nut to crack, and the landscape of the past half-century is littered with failures to prove it. But those decades of trying have yielded some lessons that are guiding the latest school improvement pioneers. Diplomas Count 2016: High School Redesign highlights districts across the country that have found success with a variety of innovative strategies.

This report also includes the latest graduation-rate analysis from the Education Week Research Center. The center calculates graduation rates for the nation and every state. Find out where the major gains are across the country and what has driven the all-time high in graduation rates.

This report examines the transition out of K-12 schooling for students with disabilities, who account for 8.5 percent of the nation's 6- to 21-year-olds, and profiles five young adults who are currently facing this changeover. Diplomas Count 2015-Next Steps: Life After Special Education also includes the latest original graduation rates for the nation, the states, and every school district in the country. Find out where the major gains are across the country and within special populations.

The nationwide push toward greater school accountability and common standards has generated a chorus of calls for raising the level of academic rigor in U.S. schools. However, the realization has come that academics alone may not be enough: Students have to want to come to school, work hard, and graduate on time. Diplomas Count 2014: Motivation Matters investigates the new attention to cultivating character traits such as persistence, grit, and self-control in students.

This ninth edition of Diplomas Counts features a special survey of teachers' and school administrators' views on motivating students and an analysis of high school graduation rates at the national and state levels. It puts the U.S. graduation rate at 81 percent, up from 78 percent two years earlier.

Despite the fact that U.S. graduation rates are on the rise, roughly 1 million students a year leave high school without a diploma. Diplomas Count 2013: Second Chances focuses on these students, a group for whom the prospect of landing a good-paying job or earning a post-secondary credential is likely to be dim, and investigates "recovery" interventions that target them.

This portrait is presented in tandem with the latest original graduate-rate analysis from the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. The research center calculates graduation rates for the nation, the states, and every public school district in the country. Find out where the major gains and losses are, across the country and within special populations.

By 2020, one in four children enrolled in America's K-12 public schoolswill be Latino.Diplomas Count 2012: MovingForward, Falling Behind takes a closer lookat the state of schooling for this population of students, thechallenges they face, and the lessons learned from some of theschools,districts, organizations, and communities that work closelywith Latino students.

This portrait is presented in tandem with the latest originalgraduation-rate analysis from the Editorial Projects in EducationResearch Center. The research center calculates graduation rates forthe nation, the states, and every public school district in thecountry. Find out where the major gains and losses are, across thecountry and within special populations.

Diplomas Count 2011: Beyond High School, Before Baccalaureate: Meaningful Alternatives to a Four-Year Degree explores how understanding the link between learning and a career becomes more critical than ever for high school students preparing to graduate and enter the next phase of their lives. This year's Diplomas Count reconsiders the "college for all" movement and examines postsecondary options for students other than a bachelor's degree. Plus, this annual benchmarking research report provides nationwide data on graduation rates, which concludes that rates are finally moving up significantly.

The 5th annual edition of Diplomas Count becomes the story of using numbers, data, and statistics to plot a real, practical course of action that will help put students now at risk of dropping out on track to earn diplomas and, if all goes well, to continue their educations in college. The articles featured in this edition include "Data in Action", "Guiding Students On Nontraditional Paths", "District Targets Dropout Figures", "Coaching for Success", and "From Analysis to Action". The Research Center section contains a number of charts and special analyses, including "Progress Postponed," "Graduation-Rates Charts", and "Pinpointing District Performance."

This report provides detailed data on graduation rates across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and in the nation's 50 largest school districts. This report also tracks state policies related to high school graduation requirements.